Israel says Megiddo bomb suspect didn't cross from Lebanon via tunnel

The Israeli Army said that the man suspected of entering northern Israel from Lebanon and planting a bomb at the Megiddo Junction did not cross the border via a tunnel.

"The possibility of the terrorist crossing via a tunnel has been completely ruled out," The Times of Israel said.

Israel's Army Radio said Tuesday that the man used a ladder, but the Israeli Army did not confirm the ladder theory and did not detail exactly how the man crossed into Israel. "The army is still studying and investigating the incident," The Times of Israel said.

Last week, Israeli soldiers killed an armed man suspected of entering the country from Lebanon and blowing up a car, raising the risk of renewed tensions with Hezbollah.

The incident unnerved Israelis, who questioned on social media and elsewhere how someone with explosives could travel dozens of kilometers inside Israel and set off a roadside bomb before being detected.

The Israeli army said that soldiers stopped a car carrying the bombing suspect at a checkpoint shortly after a roadside explosion seriously injured a driver near Megiddo Junction in the country’s north last week. The suspect was wearing a suicide vest and had a rifle and a gun when he was stopped near the border with Lebanon. The army said it shot and killed the man and is questioning the driver.

The army said the device exploded at a 90-degree angle, which is unusual for the area, which led officials to suspect that the man infiltrated from Lebanon and may have been linked to Hezbollah.

Israel's northern border with Lebanon has remained quiet but tense since the 2006 war.

But Israel discovered four years ago what it said was a network of tunnels built by Hezbollah along the border.